HAPPY NEW YEAR

For Christmas relaxation I put together a page on Maudslays used by London Transport: the ex Bucks Express Green Lines,
the ex-GWR coaches and buses, and the unique double-decker acquired from Gordon: MY1.

I have also started pages on the DAF Ikarus buses used in the London area. The text page is still missing its drawings, and I have no photos, and the histories have gaps, reflecting missing years of data.
But here it is, while I get on with the 2016 updates.

9th December 2016
Here it is. Not finished yet. I have 2016 data to add, and the internet searches are patchy, but here it is in its unvarnished state.
What is it? Oh, its a look at Stagecoach London TRIDENTS: the TA and TAS classes.

30th October 2016
In case you are wondering, I am still alive. I have been away on holiday in Italy. How does such a relatively poor nation have such a network of high speed railways? - a tunnel all the way from Bologna to Firenze! Perhaps we could have one from Manchester to Leeds?

Anyway, since then I have been working on a major project. It isn't done yet, but will be revealed soon. I have popped up to tell you that the CBR Bromley 227/94 day is on Sunday 10th December.

14th September 2016
As light relief from data-pounding with the bigger classes I have been collecting data on the Regent Vs that worked in the Greater London area.
I had thought at first that this was just RV1, but I was wrong!
It gave me the opportunity to do some new drawings too.

8th June 2016
It has happened: Virgin has dropped my site (along with all its others). The e-mail seems to still work. It will take me some time (months, probably) to amend all my pages so that the index link points here.

Please alter your bookmarks to bring you here.

I shall write a report on Hertford/Stevenage after I return from holiday.

29th May 2016
I have instituted a new e-mail account for bus related matters:

iansbusstop@gmail.com

I do not know whether my virgin account will continue or not, so please use the new account.
I hope that once I am sorted out I shall get round to replying to the mails that you have kindly sent me.
I'm a bit busy at present, but do appreciate them.

Important News: from the end of this month (April 2016) Virgin Media are ceasing to support my web-space.
So this page, the bibliography and the Country Bus Rallies front pages will be moving across to countrybus.org,
ie front page,
bibliography,
and Country Bus Rallies.

I know this will not be welcome new to those of you who have difficulty accessing www.countrybus.org, but I don't have much choice:
eighteen years of loyal customer and Virgin just dumps me.

It will take me some time to change every page that I have written, so that the back-link to the index page points to the right place, so I ask your patience.
(My Google links will also take some time to catch up with the move, I expect. Similarly the links to the bibliography page will take time to change.

Ian does not pretend to be an expert: any corrections,
additional information, flattery or news gratefully welcomed.
Rivet-counters can make their own web-sites!

Most BUS-STOP pages contain:

drawings or photos (when I can get them) of a class of London bus;

a potted class history;

some history of individual buses;

a list of photographic sources, and

a bibliography.

The histories are not complete. They are assembled from data from a variety of sources,
that do not always agree with each other. In some cases I have much more data than I have displayed,
and just need time to fill in the gaps. They are are offered as a help to your own researches, not as a complete entity.

I do not attempt to keep the histories up-to-date.
If you want the latest information, there are plenty of special interest groups
on the net.
For comprehensive monthly updates, subscribe to LOTS to get "The London Bus".

The plan drawings by Ian Smith are NOT scale drawings from originals,
but based on a few known dimensions and (usually) a variety of photographs.
In places inferences have been drawn where the photographic evidence is poor.
In particular adverts shown on buses may have incorrect colouring where I have guessed
wrongly from black & white pictures, or may be inappropriate to the livery worn by the bus.
They may be of use to modellers if printed at an appropriate scale.
You'll have to experiment to find the right printer settings.

Pages are designed for use on the Firefox browser, on 800*600 resolution.
Other resolutions may give odd results. If a display ratio is not 4:3 the photos and drawings may be distorted.
Using other browsers may also give odd results at times, especially
if they do not follow the rules, like Microsoft's Explorer, which does its own thing.
I am trying to amend pages so that they show properly on 4:3 ratio pages other than 800*600,
but this may take some time, and you may need a good pair of reading glasses.